Sun, Feb 11th 2024
Unrest at ZHdK over job cuts, billions in unclaimed pension funds, and proactive measures against housing shortages are making headlines in Switzerland. Explore the key issues in Sunday’s newspapers.
Allegations of felting at the ZHDK, dormant pension assets lying idle and the government fine-tuning measures to combat the housing shortage: this and more can be found in the Sunday newspapers. The headlines in unverified reports:
There is great unrest at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK): due to a new study model, 34 employees have been made redundant so far, as the “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. An internal staff survey gives the university management a very poor report card – and corruption is apparently rife. Superiors are said to favor life partners and relatives. Marlies Stopper from the Professional Association of Lecturers and Academic Staff at Zurich Universities of Applied Sciences says: “Zurich University of the Arts is a self-service store for employees with management functions, and it treats its employees unfairly; personnel management is desolate.” The rector is also criticized in particular. “She talks a lot, says little and decides even less,” employees are quoted as saying. The ZHdK rejects all accusations or does not comment.
In Switzerland, dormant pension assets amounting to six billion Swiss francs are lying idle. The money is spread across 900,000 accounts without a valid address, as Marco Bagutti from the BVG Substitute Occupational Benefit Institution told “Le Matin Dimanche”. Of these, 675,000 accounts have a balance of less than CHF 5,000. Last year, the total amount was 5.7 billion francs.
At an extraordinary delegates’ meeting in Bern in November, the Gastro Suisse association management and its president Casimir Platzer tried to get an extension of their term of office approved. This went wrong, as the SonntagsZeitung writes. The delegates rejected the proposal by 113 votes to 95. Platzer must therefore vacate his seat in June. The association’s leadership did not want to publicize the defeat. Instead of a report by a journalist from the association’s newspaper “Gastro Journal”, a text from the media spokesperson was published – without even mentioning the vote to extend his term of office.
Next Tuesday, the second round of talks on the housing shortage will take place in Bern. Afterwards, SVP Minister Parmelin will present the results of the round table. A current version of the “Housing shortage action plan” is available to “SonntagsBlick”. The paper recommends a total of 35 measures for implementation. As the decline in construction activity is a key factor in the emerging housing shortage, the focus is on the supply side. The participants at the round table want to apply leverage to densification, for example. The question arises as to whether the separation of work and residential zones can be relaxed in suitable locations. To this end, a study is to be commissioned to show the potential and limits of greater permeability and mixing. An adaptation of the cantonal spatial planning and building laws is also to be examined. The action plan also focuses on strengthening the building permit process.
The ambitions of US ski resort operator Vail Resorts are worrying Verbier. An anonymous letter dated January 20, obtained by “Le Matin Dimanche”, warns the wealthy chalet owners that a takeover of Téléverbier could take place “in a very short time”. Christian Burrus, who together with his family holds more than 30 percent of the shares in Téléverbier, assured us that he is not in ongoing talks with Vail Resorts or anyone else about selling his shares. The majority shareholder of the Nendaz-Veysonnaz mountain railroads, Jean-Marie Fournier, however, said that he expected to be contacted by Vail Resorts soon.
Train stations, airports, petrol stations – stores in Switzerland are also allowed to open on Sundays. This means that space at SBB stations is highly contested. While Migros, Coop and Valora are omnipresent there with their many store formats, the discounters are fighting for a small slice of the cake – without success, as “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. “We regularly apply for such locations and always submit good, market-driven offers,” says Aldi Suisse. So far, it has only been enough for a temporary store in Lausanne, which has long since had to close again. “As a rule, SBB tends to advertise smaller supermarket spaces in the high-frequency area in train stations. To be able to use these successfully, you need experience and the right concept,” said SBB. Competition is “strong”. However, the discounters are invited to come up with concepts.
Thousands of people had hoped that the two weight loss products Ozempic and Saxenda would finally be supplied on a large scale in this country. The opposite has happened: the fat-away injections are now practically no longer available. And the new product Wegovy is not yet covered by health insurance. Doctors tell the SonntagsZeitung newspaper about waiting lists that are getting longer and longer. And of desperate obesity patients who have started treatment – and now have to discontinue it. Novo Nordisk, the Danish manufacturer of weight loss products, is currently unable to keep up with production. However, the company’s stock market value reached a new high this week.
SBB wanted to use automated rail operations through the Gotthard Base Tunnel. A few weeks ago, however, the SBB management suddenly changed its mind, as SonntagsBlick writes. “Publication has been revoked”, it now says on the Simap procurement platform, where the tender for the corresponding material had previously been placed. The reason given for the revocation is the “tightened financial situation”. According to a spokesperson, there is currently not enough money available. The Federal Office of Transport (FOT) is irritated by the company’s complaints: “It is unclear to us what SBB means by ‘financial bottlenecks’,” said a spokesperson. The available funds have been known for four to five years.
Axel Lehmann and Ulrich Körner recently had to appear before the parliamentary commission of inquiry. According to the SonntagsZeitung, the last Chairman and the last CEO, who led Switzerland’s second-largest bank for nine months before they had to throw it into the rescuing arms of UBS, blamed their predecessors for its downfall. The message was that too much had been screwed up in the ten years before they took office. When asked, the speech also touched on a detail that accelerated the downfall. It was the formalistic interpretation of accounting rules that Finma used to prevent the exit from investment banking.
A civil defense facility in Steckborn TG has been used as emergency accommodation for refugees for two years. It has been a source of controversy among the local population for almost as long – because it is located in the middle of a residential area. Residents who have formed an interest group complain about noise, nuisance, crime and dirt.
According to the SonntagsZeitung newspaper, they published images from surveillance cameras on a website to document the problems. A hacker attack paralyzed the site after a few days. The IG also collected signatures for the municipality to terminate the rental agreement with the State Secretariat for Migration. Next Thursday, the future of the asylum center will be decided at an extraordinary municipal meeting, a first in Switzerland.
©Keystone/SDA
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